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Sunday, July 13, 2014

Way Better Than Good

Well, it has been a good weekend to be a writer. Lots of good things going on these past few days. Life as a writer seems to have ebbs and flows of activity, and right now things are flowing. The thing is, they're not just flowing for me, but for many of my friends as well. In some ways this makes me happier than my own isolated successes. Like any party, it's always fun when everyone is having fun along with you.

The weekend kicked off with my author interview at the studios of Milwaukee Public Radio's WUWM 89.7 FM. I went into the interview not knowing what questions would be asked with the expectation that this would make my spontaneous answers more, well, spontaneous. At the advice of a couple of writers, I had prepared in my head some answers to a couple of questions that were supposedly always asked at interviews, namely, who are your favorite authors and what inspired you to write this book? Of course those direct questions never came up, but if they had, well, I was sure enough ready for them.

The interview experience was really cool. The big microphones, the quiet, dimly lit studio and the heartbeat pulse of our voices on the computer screen next to Stephanie Lecci, my host interviewer. I wasn't nervous at all. Stephanie put me at ease and it was just like talking to someone over coffee. In my own mind there were only two verbal glitches throughout the process. I did realize that I've picked up my wife's habit of ending my sentences with "so...". It kind of leaves the listener hanging with the idea that there's more, when there's really not. So is my form of a period, so...

Later that night I attended the AllWriters' Friday Night Free for All. This is an event open to the public that typically features the successes of the writing studio. This edition featured more writers who had books selected for publishing in the past 6 months. This included Sandy Goldsworthy's book, Aftermath, and Kerry Crowley's book, Snoogers Rule, Mammoths Drool! Introducing the Amazing Mucus Phlegmball, which may be the best title for a kids book ever and Diane Valentine's forthcoming book, Family Secrets. This was followed by a cool memoir piece about an encounter with Elvis in the form of a spirit, some wonderful poetry by one of Madison's co-poets laureate, Sarah Busse, and finished off with a preview of my writing instructor Kathie Giorgio's forthcoming fourth book Rise from the River.

The group covered the gamut of celebrity. Facebook friends I know but have never heard read, students I had been in class with and watched progress to brilliance, a gifted poet who published my first poem ever thereby fueling the unquenchable thirst to get published, and of course the woman who started each of us down this path to what I can only describe as surreal coolness. Thank you for that, Kathie.

To continue an already great weekend of writing related goodness, yesterday I managed to get a flash fiction sequel to the Zombie Sasquatch story finished, as well as a new poem. It felt good to write again.

And finally to finish out the weekend, today I attended another gifted writer's first book launch. Author Kelly Risser released her book, Never Forgotten today in Muskego, Wisconsin. This is a woman who helped critique, shape and refine my own book while I did the same for her in our book writing class last summer. It was so cool to see her have her day, having had my own a few short weeks ago. If we are not called to support one another as writers, then who is? She was magnificent and radiant. So happy for her.

So it was not just a good weekend, it was SPECTACULAR. Really felt good to be alive. I referenced it a bit in my Facebook post about how lucky I felt to be where I am today. I have a job and a familyI love, a roof over my head (with all of its creaks, groans, and leaks) the best set of friends a man could ask for and a craft I've discovered that completes me.

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About Me

Jim Landwehr has two poetry collections, Reciting from Memory, by Underground Voices, and Written Life by eLectio Publishing. His first book, Dirty Shirt: A Boundary Waters Memoir, was published by eLectio Publishing in 2014. Dirty Shirt is a humorous account of his travels to the Boundary Waters Canoe Area in northern Minnesota with friends, brothers and his children over the last 25 years.